This article outlines the importance of herbal dietary supplements
regulation by providing a brief overview of history of supplement regulation in
the US with emphasis placed on passage of the 1994 Dietary Supplement Health
and Education Act (DSHEA) and post-DSHEA enforcement actions. This review also
addresses international aspects of dietary supplement regulatory processes. The
controversy surrounding the separation of structure/function claims from health
claims is examined. Safety issues are summarized and the following proposals
are offered to improve the herbal dietary supplements regulatory system. First,
herbal dietary supplements should be subject to more strict regulation by the
FDA, which means treating them more like pharmaceuticals and not like food.
Only pre-market approval can guarantee consumer access to safe and effective
product. Second, a suggested simplified procedure allows the registration of a
traditional herbal dietary supplement. Third, due to the compositional
diversity and complexity of botanical substances, every new submission of
nontraditional herbal supplement must be processed on a case-by-case basis.
Fourth, a mandatory post-marketing reporting system of all adverse events
should be established rather than the current serious adverse event reporting
scheme. And finally, legislative reform is needed to change the regulatory
system of dietary supplements..

Abstract.We develop a reputation model to study the concurrent use of trademarks
and certification for food products with a geographical indication (GI). The
model extends Shapiro's (1983) approach to modelling reputation to a situation
in which two technologies for the production of quality are available, one of
which is available only in the GI region. In this setting, trademarks capture
firm-specific reputations, whereas GI certification captures a notion of
collective reputation. The model shows that GI certification improves the
ability of reputation to operate as a mechanism for assuring quality linked to
some inherent attributes of a particular production area..

Abstract.Private consumption may be seen both as a means of individual social
legitimation and as an expression of collective values and identities. As such,
consumer behaviour may evidence the nature and extent of adaptation of
political values and orientations during periods of political transition. This
study identifies and analyses recent trends in consumer behaviour in the former
German Democratic Republic (GDR) as expressions of identity adaptation. It
argues that East Germans' distinctive socialisation, combined with the liminal
experience of German unification, has promoted the development of a consumer
culture that is compatible with liberal, late-capitalist values and yet differs
in key respects from the West German ‘reference culture’. The emerging East
German consumer culture can be characterised as pragmatic-experimental. The
unusually politicised role of consumer cultures in the post-GDR transition
trajectory enhances the potential for consumer behaviours to be
co-constitutive, as well as illustrative, of East German political identity..

- E. Oakesa y Carole S. Slotterbacka, “Gender
differences in perceptions of the healthiness of foods”. Psychology & Health, Vol. 16 nº 1 (2001) 57-65..Abstract.Our perceptions of the healthiness of foods are thought to influence
what we decide to eat. Reportedly, women (as compared to men) eat more
nutritious foods and are more likely to consider health issues when deciding
what to eat However, until now, few studies have investigated possible gender
differences in perceptions of the healthiness of foods. In the present study,
men and women answered questions pertaining to nutritional habits, then rated a
variety of foods according to their healthfulness. Results indicated that
women, compared to men, tended to emphasize fat content over nutrient levels
when deciding what foods are healthy. If perceptions of food health influence
consumption, it is likely that females, as compared to males, would be more
likely to suffer from malnutrition..